


you and i, or: the benefits of giving in to peer pressure

by starlight_sugar



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter/Funhaus RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-24
Updated: 2016-06-24
Packaged: 2018-07-17 23:18:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,647
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7290091
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starlight_sugar/pseuds/starlight_sugar
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><b>Should Be Boyfriends</b><br/>@shouldbebfs</p><p>I have two friends who should really be boyfriends. This Twitter is to catalogue the dumb shit they say and do. run by @tugglifelindsay</p>
            </blockquote>





	you and i, or: the benefits of giving in to peer pressure

**Author's Note:**

> This is a fictional story involving fictional likenesses of real people. Rooster Teeth does not have my permission to use any portion of my work in their content.

The first thing Lindsay says when she sits down at their lunch table is “How’s your boyfriend?”

“He’s not my boyfriend,” Matt says tiredly, before she even finishes.

Lindsay raises her eyebrows. “Wow, okay, were you ready for that? Don’t you think that means something?”

“I think it means you need to get out of my love life.”

“So, to clarify, you’re claiming you have some kind of love life,” Kdin says, eyeing him skeptically. “Really, Matt.”

Matt knows that fighting this battle isn’t going to go well for him. It hasn’t any other time. He knows it’d be easier to just shut up and roll his eyes and move on. But they’re attacking his honor, or at least his integrity, and that shit’s not going to fly. This is why, despite his best judgment, he says, “I have a love life. And it’s dead.”

Kdin snorts. “Okay, man, whatever you say.”

“Are we talking about Matt’s relationship denial complex?” Trevor says, appearing out of goddamn nowhere to sit next to Matt.

“Relationship denial complex,” Matt repeats. “You know what, I’m officially done with this conversation.”

“We’re not,” Lindsay says cheerfully.

“What are you guys hoping our marching show is next year?”

Trevor shakes his head. “Poor thing, he doesn’t even realize how bad the denial is.”

“I’m hoping it’s one of those four seasons theme shows. Or at least not another one that involves giant fucking props on the field.”

“Our shows always involve giant fucking props,” Kdin says. Matt hates her for being right. “And you’ve admitted that you have a crush on him, so why don’t you do something about it?”

Matt has a lot of answers for that, but saying one of them would be like admitting defeat, and he’s not about to do that. “I also hope we hire a different drill writer this season. Our shows haven’t looked good recently, we need someone else.”

“Oh, my god, quit with the band talk,” Lindsay groans. “As your drum major, I demand that you stop that, I’ve done enough of that. If you’re going to stay in denial, talk about something else.”

“How about exams coming up,” Matt says, because nobody ever said he couldn’t be an asshole. Everyone groans in unison, and Matt silently thanks God for the distraction. He’d rather talk about school than his feelings.

.

It’s the end of the school year, which means a few things for Matt. Firstly, it means they’re getting their new marching band music soon. Secondly, it means unlimited video game time is coming up, which is fucking great, because Overwatch is fun and he’s going to play the shit out of it this summer.

But thirdly - and Matt hasn’t figured out if this is a blessing or a curse yet - it means that Jeremy starts showing up at his house after football practice. Just to hang out, he always says, and it’s a daily thing and Matt has no reason to believe it’s anything other than hanging out. He’d kind of like it to be, but that’s another issue.

This starts, like it always does, two weeks before the school year actually ends. Jeremy has had a key to the Bragg house for years, by virtue of being Matt’s best friend and also next-door neighbor. The parents figured it was quicker for them to be able to just walk into each other’s houses rather than deal with knocking on doors, and probably more convenient for emergencies, or something. Matt’s not a parent whisperer, he doesn’t know what led to the decision.

All he knows is that he’s in the middle of losing a match, badly, when he hears his front door unlock and open. “Don’t raid the fridge,” he calls, even though he doesn’t mind if Jeremy does.

“Not a problem.” Jeremy rounds the corner and holds up a McDonald’s bag, a tray of drinks balanced in his other hand. “I got you some too.”

“You’re a hero,” Matt says with feeling, just as the game ends. “Thank god, I was getting my ass kicked.”

“My fast food doesn’t change that, it just gives you an excuse to stop.” Jeremy drops the bag on the coffee table, sets the drink tray next to it, and plops on the couch next to Matt. “You get your band music yet?”

“Tomorrow. How was the first day?”

“The freshmen suck.”

“The freshmen always suck.”

“The seniors suck too.”

Matt snorts. “Why don’t you just admit the team sucks?” It’s been a point of contention between them for a while. Everyone knows that the school football team is kind of a disgrace, even though they try really hard not to be. Jeremy is possibly the lone exception to this, although he has some other football friends who aren’t terrible. The problem is that Matt, despite his emotional attachments to the team, knows that most of the team is awful. If Jeremy knows this, he’s pretty good at hiding it.

As expected, Jeremy just lifts his chin. “I’m not saying shit.”

“Whatever you say, dude.” Matt reaches into the McDonald’s bag and pulls out his chicken nuggets. “Thanks for lunch.”

“It’s five o’clock.”

“Thanks for late lunch. Early dinner?”

“Food,” Jeremy says, and takes one of Matt’s nuggets. “That’s my payment.”

It always is. Matt rolls his eyes anyways. “You’re eating me out of house and home.”

“You sound like your mother,” Jeremy mutters. Matt makes a face at him, which he ignores. “Eat your fucking nuggets.”

Matt eats one of his fucking nuggets and hands Jeremy his controller. Jeremy enters a new match, like Matt knew he would, and takes a drink of Matt’s root beer, like Matt knew he would. Matt’s beginning to think that they’re a little bit predictable, the two of them. Or maybe they’re just comfortable. That’s not so bad.

(The first time Lindsay was at Matt’s house and Jeremy came over, Matt was just happy that the two of them got along. At least, he was until Jeremy left and Lindsay apologized for crashing date night.

“Uh,” Matt said, “what?”

“Date night,” Lindsay repeated. “I didn’t realize you guys were having, like, boyfriend time.”

Matt didn’t really know how to answer that. It took him another two days to explain to Lindsay how thoroughly she’d misread the situation, and the rest was total history.)

.

 **Should Be Boyfriends**  
@shouldbebfs

I have two friends who should really be boyfriends. This Twitter is to catalogue the dumb shit they say and do. run by @tugglifelindsay

Joined Twitter 6 months ago

.

“Football practice is starting,” Lindsay says, leaning over the top of Matt’s music stand. “You and Jeremy hanging out?”

From next to Matt, Trevor _ooh_ s quietly. Matt ignores him. “Yeah, we always do. He played some Overwatch. Like friends do.”

“Friends,” Lindsay repeats.

“Friends.”

“Did he bring you a present?” Trevor asks, sounding way too interested.

Matt rolls his eyes. “He brought McDonald’s.”

“He knows your McDonald’s order?” Lindsay demands. “Matt, that’s basically true love.”

“He’s known it since we were eleven.”

“Wow, they’ve been in love for six years,” Trevor says, looking at Lindsay with wide eyes. “That’s a lot of years.”

“I can’t stand you,” Matt says. “Either of you.”

“It’s not really a surprise,” Lindsay says. “I mean, have you seen them?”

“What does that mean, has he seen us? Lindsay, you’ve been in the room at the same time as all three of us, you know he has.”

Trevor ignores Matt. This is not a surprise. “I don’t think Matt’s seen himself yet.”

Lindsay smiles and shakes her head. “Absolutely not.”

“I don’t understand you,” Matt says morosely. Lindsay just goes to the front of the room, because she’s conducting today, in all of her drum major glory. Matt sighs. “That goes double for you, Treyco.”

“I don’t understand how you don’t realize you have a boyfriend,” Trevor answers cheerfully. “But here we are anyways.”

“Here we are anyways,” Matt echoes as Lindsay steps up on the podium. “In the middle of some weird bullshit.”

.

 **Should Be Boyfriends** @shouldbebfs  
J surprised M with takeout and knew his exact order. M claims he’s known it for years.

 **Should Be Boyfriends** @shouldbebfs  
Also they have keys to each other’s houses. And have for years.

.

In case it isn’t clear - and apparently it isn’t - Matt is not dating Jeremy.

This is, he’s sure, a good thing. A great thing, even, and he’s spent a lot of time trying to explain exactly how great it is. He has half a dozen explanations in his arsenal ready to go at a moment’s notice, and almost everyone in the marching band has heard them all. Of course, that wouldn’t be the case if people didn’t keep fucking assuming he was dating Jeremy, but you know, Matt isn’t too bothered by that.

Okay, that’s a lie. Matt is bothered by that, because Jeremy is his best friend, and he’s not dating the guy, but he could. They’re teenagers, for Christ’s sake, they date people, it’s what they do. And he could do worse than the star of the football team who he’s known for most of his life. He could do worse than his best friend.

Matt’s not dating Jeremy, and he’s pretty certain he’s not about to start, and that might be turning into a problem.

.

The thing is, for all that they're close - and they're stupidly close, as Matt's friends will not hesitate to remind him, in detail - they're not in the same social circles. It's not a big deal, it's just that Jeremy can see Matt whenever he wants to. He's crashed through Matt's window at three in the morning a couple of times, there's no reason for them to spend any time together at school. So Jeremy hangs out with his football friends, and Matt hangs out with his band friends. It's not like it's a secret that they're friends, it's just the way things go. Matt's fine with it.

"The guy doesn't owe me his company," he says during lunch one day, when the argument comes up again. "I see enough of him outside of school, it's not like it matters."

"Of course it matters," Trevor says. Matt can't tell if he's mock-offended or genuinely upset on Matt's behalf. "Friendship is important, Matt. You should spend time together."

"I mean, everyone knows that you guys are friends," Kdin adds, poking at her school-lunch spaghetti with her fork. "It's not like High School Musical, where you're going to disrupt the delicate social climate or anything. He can sit with us if he wants to."

Matt snorts. "Said the band kid about the only good player on the football team?"

"Fuck football," Lindsay says, and Kdin and Trevor murmur their agreement. "And fuck this, man, we already know we get along with him."

That horrible, unfortunate, bane-of-Matt's-existence discovery had been made a handful of months ago, when Jeremy had wandered over to Matt's house mid-marching band Mario Kart tournament. Everyone already knew Jeremy, in reputation if not in person, and they knew about Jeremy and Matt. They didn't know that Jeremy was a great guy.

The tournament was the beginning of the end. Lindsay had been saying for months before that that Jeremy and Matt should be dating, but the tournament got Trevor and Kdin on her side. Even worse, the tournament got Trevor and Kdin to like Jeremy. And now Jeremy sees Matt’s friends fairly often, which only makes the crush teasing worse. It’s kind of awful.

(Not that Matt would ever admit it, but for all that he complains, he's glad that his friends like Jeremy. Or, really, that they approve of him. It means way fucking more than he wants to say. But that doesn’t make his life any easier.)

"We don't know that you guys would get along with football players," Matt argues anyways, because he has to try and defend the remaining shreds of his dignity here. "It's not about you guys, it's about him, it's what he's comfortable with. And if he wants-"

"Hey, guys," Jeremy says. "Matt, move."

Matt thinks, for a quarter-second, that he's hallucinating. That's the only reason he scoots closer to Trevor, and Jeremy sits down on his other side, looking around the group bright-eyed. "Hey, guys."

"Hi, Jeremy," Trevor says, with a grin so big that Matt can hear it.  "Hanging out with us instead of the football team today?"

"Yeah, I missed Matt," Jeremy say, so candidly that Matt has to stop for a second and look at him in surprise. Jeremy just shrugs, a half-smile on his face that Matt doesn't understand. He doesn't like that, the strangeness of the expression. He's used to understanding Jeremy.

"Dude, I'm touched," he says anyways, because he has appearances to keep up. He gently places one hand over his heart. "Right here. You touched me."

"Good, I like touching you," Jeremy says. Lindsay chokes on her Gatorade, which Jeremy ignores. "What're we talking about?"

"High School Musical," Trevor says. "Cliques. Comparing our school to East High."

"Am I Troy?"

"If you are, does that make us like the science team?" Kdin raises her eyebrows, smirking, and Matt realizes what she's about to say too late to cut her off. "Which one of us is your Gabriella?"

Matt doesn't make eye contact, or even look at Jeremy. He focuses resolutely on taking a bite of his turkey sandwich as Jeremy says, deadpan, "Treyco."

"No," Trevor says.

"What, why not?"

"Because I can't sing."

"Can anyone here sing?"

"Matt plays trumpet," Lindsay offers as she taps away on her phone. "He sings out above the rest of the band."

Matt gives Lindsay the most skeptical look he can manage. "Did you strain something reaching that far, or did you actually think that was cute?"

"It was cute, fuck you," Lindsay says. "Jeremy, are you coming to our last pep rally on Thursday?"

"Of course," Jeremy says, almost offended. "I don't miss Matt's performances."

It's true, but Matt can't resist side-eyeing Jeremy. "Eighth grade spring concert-"

"Doesn't count."

"It counts!"

"I was getting emergency appendix removal."

"You still weren't there."

Jeremy rolls his eyes, but Matt realizes with a start that his cheeks are turning pink. That's not normally a side-effect of the appendicitis conversation, and he doesn't know what that means, just like he didn't know the smirk earlier. He's not a fan of not understanding Jeremy anymore.

"I'll be there," Jeremy assures Lindsay, even though he’s still blushing, what the fuck. "You guys will be pepping all over the place, it'll be great. Wouldn’t miss it."

"I thought the football team was required to go to pep rallies," Kdin says as innocently as possible.

Jeremy shrugs. "I'd go for m-" he coughs suddenly. "My favorite marching band."

"Nice save," Trevor says. Matt glances at him questioningly, and he just shrugs. "What bullshit do you guys think StuCo will have planned for this rally?"

"Go-karts," Matt says. "And something involving eating."

"Bullshit, you can't say that, they always have a food competition," Lindsay argues, and they’re off. It's a comfortable argument. It's something normal, and Matt totally unabashedly grabs hold of the normal with both hands and hangs on tight. Pep rallies suck, but his center of gravity is a little off-center with Jeremy sitting next to him. He could use a world where he's on even ground.

.

 **Should Be Boyfriends** @shouldbebfs  
J surprised M with a lunchtime visit today, just as M was talking about how J didn’t have to visit him.

 **Should Be Boyfriends** @shouldbebfs  
Made a joke about M being the Troy to J’s Gabriella. M wasn’t looking but J blushed like a fire truck. It was pretty cute.

 **Should Be Boyfriends** @shouldbebfs  
Also, J has apparently been to every one of M’s concerts. Except one, which he missed because he had appendicitis.

 **Should Be Boyfriends** @shouldbebfs  
J also blushed when appendicitis came up in conversation. Not sure what that’s about, but it’s still kind of cute.

 **Should Be Boyfriends** @shouldbebfs  
tl;dr J has been going out of his way for M for a long time, apparently.

.

“Your band friends like me, right?” Jeremy says, apropos of nothing.

Matt doesn’t look up from Overwatch, but he frowns anyways. “Of course they do, why wouldn’t they?”

“I dunno.” Jeremy shrugs - Matt can’t see it, but he still knows it happens - and settles back more comfortably on the couch. “They always seem weird when I’m around.”

“Don’t worry, they’re weird when you’re not around too.”

“They’re less weird when it’s just me and them.”

That gets Matt to turn away. He knows he’s about to get killed, but he has to figure out what the fuck that means. “You hang out with my band friends?”

“I mean, I have hung out with them,” Jeremy says. Now that Matt’s looking at him he can tell that Jeremy’s uncomfortable. It’s in the set of his shoulders and in how he’s not looking at Matt, what the fuck, why won’t he look at Matt? “Sort of accidentally, but, you know. Lindsay goes to football stuff sometimes because of Michael, and Trevor and Kdin and I have been in the same place at the same time before.”

“Sure,” Matt says, because that all makes perfect sense, “but what do you mean, they’re less weird when I’m not there?”

“It’s-” Jeremy shakes his head and glances at the game. “You just got sniped.”

“Of course I got sniped, I’m having a conversation instead of looking at the screen.”

“Forget it, we can talk after you lose.”

“We can talk as I lose,” Matt decides, turning back to his monitor. He knows what Jeremy’s like when he’s dodgy, and this is pretty fucking dodgy. Which means they have to talk about it. “Of course my band friends like you. We don’t have the whole jocks-versus-nerds thing going on, but even if we did, you wouldn’t give a fuck about it.”

Jeremy sighs. “Yeah, you’re right, sure.”

“You gave in awfully quick there.”

“You’re right, I was being stupid.”

“Why were you being stupid?”

“I just wanted to check and be sure,” Jeremy says, and okay, Matt calls bullshit on that, but he’s not about to prod. “Lindsay spends a lot of time on her phone when she’s around me, though.”

“She does that anyways,” Matt points out. “So do you.”

“Yeah? So do you.”

“I know, and there’s nothing wrong with it.”

“Nothing,” Jeremy repeats. “So if I just, you know, took your phone right now-”

“I’d break your wrist.”

“Harsh.”

“You don’t touch my phone,” Matt says, as the match ends. “Shit, we lost.”

“You dragged your whole team down,” Jeremy says, mock-serious. “I’ll have to take over for you. Redeem your name.”

Matt hands over the controller. If nothing else he gets to watch Jeremy be _really_ into Overwatch, and that’s its own kind of fun.

.

The pep rally on Thursday is bullshit, because it’s a high school pep rally, and it couldn’t possibly be anything but bullshit. There are go-karts and an eating challenge, and Matt is so thoroughly unimpressed he almost falls asleep as two dumb freshmen try to speed-eat some pie.

“You’re giving the band a bad reputation,” Trevor says, after ever-so-lightly digging an elbow into Matt’s ribs. “We’re the pep band, we need to be peppy.”

“Hip, hip, hooray,” Matt says as flatly as possible. “How many people do you think want to be here right now?”

“Four,” Trevor says.

Matt shakes his head. “More than that, what about student council?”

“You said people, and I’m pretty sure they’re not humans.”

“That’s ridiculous.” Matt leans forward to the row of saxophonists in front of him and pokes Kdin’s shoulder. “K, how many people in this gymnasium actually want to be here?”

“Twelve,” Kdin says.

“That’s a high estimate,” Trevor protests. “Even if we’re counting StuCo, there’s no way all of them or even most of them want-”

“Does Jeremy like pep rallies?” Kdin asks.

Matt wishes that didn’t immediately put him on edge, but he stiffens, not quite of his own accord. “Why are you asking?”

“Why don’t you want me to ask?”

“Jeremy was asking about you guys the other day,” Matt says, even though he’s pretty sure he shouldn’t, and that this whole conversation is quickly turning into a mistake. “Something about you guys acting weird whenever you’re around both of us. You wouldn’t know what that’s about, would you?”

“You act pretty weird when you’re both together,” Trevor points out. “You can’t just blame us. Hey, I can see him from here, should we wave at him?”

“Do you think he’s going to notice you waving from across the gym?”

“Well, given that he’s been staring pretty much right at us for the last five minutes, I think so.”

Matt’s head snaps up. Sure enough, Jeremy is sitting with the football team just like he always is, and he’s looking up at Matt. Not at the band, not at Trevor - okay, maybe at Trevor, eye contact gets a little iffy when you’re a few dozen feet apart - but at Matt. He can barely make out a smile on his face as he sees Matt looking.

“I’m waving,” Trevor announces, and starts waving at Jeremy. Jeremy’s smile widens, and he offers back a tiny wave. “Aw, Matt, your boyfriend likes me!”

“He’s not,” Matt says helplessly, and sighs. “Jesus, what am I going to have to do to get you off that track?”

“Date him,” Kdin suggests.

“Not an option.”

“Why not?”

“Because he’s-”

“Tell us something we haven’t heard before.”

Matt tries to think of something new. He’s gone through every excuse in the book with Trevor and Kdin, probably more than once, but, well. Maybe now is the time that he gives an actual answer.

“Because,” he says, “I’d rather have someone who wants to be my best friend than someone who doesn’t want to date me. And I’m okay with never finding out that second part.”

Trevor and Kdin exchange a shocked look, and Matt feels the strangest sense of vindictive triumph. Sure, legitimate excuses are hard to say, but they’re also a lot harder to counter.

“I’ll be your best friend if he doesn’t want to anym- _ow,_ ” Trevor says, rubbing at his shoulder. “Jesus, who taught you to throw a punch?”

“Mica,” Kdin says primly, settling her hand back on the neck of her saxophone. “Matt, I know this might be a revolutionary concept, but have you considered that Jeremy wants to date you?”

“We’re not having this conversation during a pep rally in a high school gym,” Matt says. “I refuse. On principle.”

“Nobody’s going to be listening,” Trevor says, in what he probably thinks is a persuasive tone of voice. “Come on, you can say it.”

Matt sighs. “Lindsay’s going to be pissed if she can’t hear it.”

“Your excuses are getting weaker,” Kdin sighs, but she leans forward and raises her voice. “Lindsay!”

Lindsay, sitting at the front of the bleachers, turns around. Kdin jerks a thumb at Matt and then makes some hand gesture that Matt doesn’t understand, and Jesus Christ if they have hand gestures to describe this situation he really needs new friends. Lindsay’s eyes widen, and she scrambles over to the stairs on the side of the bleacher, climbs up, and plops down next to Kdin. “What’s going on?”

“Matt’s turning into a real boy,” Trevor announces. “And he’s about to explain why he’s not dating Jeremy.”

Lindsay’s jaw drops. “What the hell, you were having this conversation without me? What did I miss?”

“Yeah, this sharing personal feelings thing isn’t really working out for me, I think I’m done,” Matt says. It’s partly the truth, but it’s mostly to watch his friends freak out. The three of them explode into a flurry of reassurances, and Matt’s eyes drift back across the gym towards Jeremy.

Jeremy visibly brightens when he notices Matt looking at him again. Matt can see him sit a little straighter, wave with a little more purpose than he did at Trevor. Matt can’t help but smile and wave back, just because the gym feels a little warmer and he thinks it’s not just body heat.

Trevor clears his throat loudly. When Matt turns back all three of his friends are staring at him. Lindsay is typing on her phone - and wow, Jeremy wasn’t kidding about that, she’s on her phone a lot, isn’t she? But that doesn’t change the capital-L Looks they’re all giving him.

“What?” he sighs.

“Dude,” Lindsay says. “That was a little gay.”

Matt shrugs. “Well, for starters, I’m at least a little gay-” Kdin lifts a hand, and he pauses long enough to high-five her - “and also, you know, he’s my best friend. I’m allowed to make meaningful eye contact in a crowded room if I want to.”

“That’s even gayer,” Lindsay says excitedly. “So does that mean you’re actually going to do something about this crush?”

“It means,” Matt says cautiously, “that I’m beginning to realize a lot of my reasons suck. But the biggest one doesn’t suck, and that’s that I have no idea if he’s actually interested in me.”

Trevor groans. “He’s interested!”

“There’s no way to definitively prove that.”

“Well,” Trevor says, and looks at Lindsay.

Matt frowns. “Well, what?”

“Wellllll,” Kdin says, and also turns to Lindsay.

“Well _what?”_ Matt repeats, fixing Lindsay with the most focused look he can manage. Around them, all of the band kids are climbing to their feet, which means the pep rally is probably over. It could be a good escape under other circumstances, but Matt isn’t about to let this go. “What did you do?”

Lindsay doesn’t squirm - she’s not the squirmy type, too sure of whatever she’s doing to bother squirming - but goddamn if she doesn’t look close to it. “Well,” she says. “I think it’s time I showed you the Twitter.”

.

 **Should Be Boyfriends** @shouldbebfs  
M and J just made prolonged eye contact across a crowded room.

 **Should Be Boyfriends** @shouldbebfs  
I’m pretty sure M didn’t even realize how long it was.

.

“It started as a joke,” Lindsay says, once they’ve made it out of the gymnasium and to a shitty picnic table in front of a Sonic. It’d taken some doing for Matt to get out without even looking for Jeremy, but Lindsay had herded him and Trevor and Kdin all towards her dad’s sedan, and they’d gone out. She swirls her straw in her limeade, but still makes eye contact with Matt. “It was just, like, a cute thing we wanted to do.”

“We,” Kdin repeats tonelessly.

“A cute thing I wanted to do,” Lindsay amends. “I thought it’d be a good idea.”

“Okay,” Matt says, and takes a long drink of his milkshake. Lindsay still hasn’t explained exactly what the Twitter is, but he’s pretty sure he’s not going to like it.

“So when I show you this-” Lindsay slides her phone across the table - “I want you to keep that in mind. It was never anything but well-intentioned.”

Matt picks up Lindsay’s phone. “Should be boyfriends,” he reads aloud, and almost drops the phone. “Oh my god, you didn’t.”

“I never used your names,” Lindsay says quickly. “You were J and M, but I was as vague as I could be. I didn’t want anyone to be able to figure it out.”

“You could’ve used fake initials,” Trevor mumbles around a mouthful of tater tots. Kdin rolls her eyes at him, but he just shrugs. “She could’ve.”

“Jesus fuck,” Matt murmurs, starting to scroll through. Most of it is from conversations he remembers - the gym thing, the McDonald’s thing, all regular stuff - but some of it is stuff he wouldn’t have thought twice about. Stuff that was all perfectly innocuous. “How is it datey that he gave me his jacket when I got cold? Trevor did the same thing for Kdin that same day.”

“He gave you his letterman, Matt,” Lindsay says. “Michael didn’t give me his letterman until we’d been dating for four months.”

Matt raises his eyebrows. “What, like, to the day?”

“I think so, actually. It was a milestone for him. Jacket day.” Lindsay sips her limeade, still looking at Matt. “You know, not just anyone gets to wear lettermans.”

“Yeah, but,” Matt says, and stops, wheels in his mind turning. “So it’s like the thing with the gloves?”

“Exactly,” Lindsay says smugly.

Trevor frowns. “There was a thing with gloves?”

“It was, like, December, we were stuck outside, and I gave Jeremy my gloves.” Matt pauses. “My, uh, marching band gloves.”

Kdin chokes on her cheeseburger. “You _what_?”

“Why did you even have those with you?” Trevor demands.

“They were the only ones I had,” Matt says defensively. The glove thing is, in his opinion, a stupid fucking tradition. Every single pair of marching band gloves is identical, and it shouldn’t have mattered that Matt let Jeremy wear his, but it sort of did. Not because he thinks so, but because they all think so. You don’t give your gloves to just anyone, you give them to people you’re dating.

“Yeah,” Trevor says, “but you gave him your gloves.”

“I let him borrow them, he gave them back.”

“And you gave back his letterman, but he still gave it to you!” Lindsay gestures wildly at him. “It’s the same thing. You did the band dating thing, even if he didn’t know that’s what it was, and he did the football one. You guys have definitely been dating since at least last winter.”

“Huh,” Matt says, and looks back down at the Twitter. “You know, I can’t believe this handle was available-”

“Matt,” Lindsay says exasperatedly. “Go talk to him. There’s no putting it off anymore.”

Matt hands Lindsay’s phone back to her. “Okay,” he says, and tries his hardest to pretend his heart’s not in his throat.

.

 **Should Be Boyfriends** @shouldbebfs  
Situation is suddenly up in the air. Will keep the literal dozens of you followers updated.

.

It takes Matt forty-one minutes after Jeremy shows up at his house to bring it up. Or, well, it takes forty-one minutes for him to feel like he’s actually going to die if he doesn’t say something right now, immediately.

“So,” he says, forcedly casual, “Lindsay showed me something kinda weird today.”

They’re between Overwatch matches, so Jeremy actually looks over at him. “Weird how?”

Matt hands Jeremy his phone, with the Twitter account already open. “She’s been running this for the last six months, crazy, right?”

Jeremy frowns as he takes the phone and starts scrolling. “She’s been tweeting about people she knows? That’s-”

“Not just any people she knows,” Matt says. He can’t decide if he should look at Jeremy or away from Jeremy or move closer or move farther or god, he’s really bad at this, isn’t he? “Just, uh. People she-”

“Us,” Jeremy says, and his voice is more unreadable than Matt has ever heard. “She’s been saying for the past six months that we should date.”

“Yeah,” Matt says. Jeremy is still looking at the phone. “Hey, on a sort of related note, I have a weird question.”

“Is it whether or not I would date you?”

“No, actually, although we can talk about that in a minute. Why were you _blushing_ when the appendicitis thing came up?”

Jeremy snorts quietly. “It’s entirely possible I didn’t tell my parents I could barely move out of sheer pain because I was trying to make it to your concert.”

Matt stares at him. “You’re kidding.”

Slowly, cautiously, Jeremy meets his eyes. “They said at the hospital it was actually one of the worst cases of appendicitis they’ve seen in a while, and that they were impressed I’d held out as long as I did. But, you know, stupid thirteen-year-old me, all I was thinking was I couldn’t miss your concert, no matter how much those burritos I had earlier were fucking me up.”

“God, Jerem,” Matt says, and he can’t decide if he wants to laugh or cry. That’s a stupid level of dedication, and Matt doesn’t know what to do about it. “Since you were thirteen?”

“I thought I was being obvious,” Jeremy says. His voice cants upwards, like it’s a question, and Matt realizes he’s not sure what the right answer is. “You know, I was worried I was flirting too hard.”

“I was worried I was flirting at all,” Matt admits. “Because, you know, I didn’t want to flirt so hard it broke us up as friends or anything.”

“You wouldn’t have,” Jeremy reassures him. “You won’t, I mean.”

Matt tries very hard to keep his eyes on Jeremy’s eyes and not his lips. “You know, I think that’s the most romantic that appendicitis has ever been.”

“Oh, so it’s romantic?” Jeremy wiggles his eyebrows, and Matt has to stop himself from giggling. “You think you know anything about romance?”

“I think,” Matt says, somewhere between cautious and hopeful, “I’m willing to find out.”

Jeremy grins. “Awesome,” he says, and leans in. Matt leans to meet him in the middle, without a second thought, as natural as breathing.

They don’t get back to playing Overwatch. Making out on the couch is more fun, anyways. If this is how Matt spends his summer, he’s going to be okay with it.

.

 **Should Be Boyfriends** @shouldbebfs  
Well, it’s been a good six months, guys, but you won’t be hearing from me again. “Should be” has become “actually are.”

 **Should Be Boyfriends** @shouldbebfs  
I’ll pass on any congratulations you have, but this account is done. (At least, until I find two more friends who should date each other.)

 **Should Be Boyfriends** @shouldbebfs  
But until then: way to go, J and M. We were rooting for you, and you got there. Good job.

**Author's Note:**

> This fic was written as a commission for the absolutely incomparable [LN,](http://satellitesandfallingstars.tumblr.com) who is a superstar and deserves good fic to read. I am more than happy to contribute to that cause. As always you can see more fic/life updates on [Tumblr](http://pervincetosscobble.tumblr.com) and [Twitter.](http://twitter.com/ezrabridgers) Thanks for reading!


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